X Men Academy
by Chrifu
Summary: Aden is a new student at the Institute, facing the same things new students face everywhere. Making friends, getting lost, getting in fights and taking tests. Takes place in the New X Men Series before M Day. Warning: Gay stuff.
1. Chapter 1

Only a few of these characters belong to me. The rest belong to Marvel and such. Duh.

September 20th:

_Well, here I am._

Aden stared at the blinking cursor. Tara told him to write an email as soon as he got there, but so much had happened over the past few days that he didn't know where or even how to begin. He looked around at his new home. His bedroom was dark, the curtains drawn against the setting sun. The balcony outside offered a spectacular view of the Mansions swimming pool. Two beds lay on opposite sides of the room, one messy and not made, and the other one occupied by Aden. His roommate, Leander was hanging out in the rec room with other students. Aden sighed. _I need to move_. He stood up and stretched. He sighed again. _Maybe I should go out and meet people. I mean, I'm starting classes tomorrow. It wouldn't hurt to know someone before then._ Leander had offered to introduce Aden to his friends, but Aden declined, making up some excuse that he had to phone his family. He had phoned them an hour before.

Aden made his way to the balcony and saw a group of students splashing in the water. Making sure none of them were aware of his presence, he activated his power and raised a small orb of water two inches above the surface. Double-checking that no one was looking, he 'threw' it at one cute guy who was levitating several feet over the heads of three identical blonde girls. As one, all three girls turned and looked at Aden, while the cute guy fell in the water in surprise. _Oh shit_. The girls laughed, and turned toward each other, obviously conversing telepathically. _I need to remember that some of the kids here can read my mind_. The cute guy resurfaced and started doing flips in the air in an attempt to impress the girls. Aden laughed, surprising himself. _Maybe I should go down there. Those girls seem nice_. His stomach growled, disagreeing. Aden shrugged, slipped into his flip-flops, and exited the room, locking the door behind him.

"Hey there!" Aden jumped, and turned. "Hi." He replied, checking out the Asian girl who stood before him. She was of average height, for an Asian girl, she wore strange gloves on her hands and wrists, though Aden couldn't help staring at her short chopped blue hair. "You like?" she said, noticing the direction of his eyes. "I dyed it last week. Oh, I'm Nori. You new?"

"Uh, yeah. I am. I'm Aden, by the way."

"Cool, you're rooming with Leander? Ooh, I feel bad for you. That guy has definitely got a hygiene disorder. So have you been assigned to a squad yet?"

"A squad?" asked Aden, hesitantly.

"Yeah, a squad. We have ten squads here, and each one is mentored by one of our teachers. I'm in the New Mutants, and our tutor is Miss Moonstar. Don't worry about it," she said after seeing the look of doubt on Aden's face. "I didn't get assigned to a squad officially for a week, but we kind of already knew what squad I was going to be put into, so it didn't matter." She saw that Aden still had a doubtful look on his face. "Oops, guess I didn't help much. I wouldn't worry about it too much." She smiled. "So what are you up to now?"

"I was just gonna get something to eat. My stomachs complaining." Aden said. Nori laughed, "Me too!" Nori led him down hallway to the big corridor, which connected all of the other hallways and students rooms. The corridor also led to the stairs, and down the stairs was the entrance hall. From there they made their way to the kitchen. Along the way they chatted, Nori mostly talking a lot about the school, and her squad. Aden learned that Nori absorbed electricity all the time. She wore the gauntlets so she could regulate it. When she absorbed enough electricity, she could release it in lightning, or use it for bursts of super speed.

"The reason that I'm talking so fast right now," she said quickly, "is that I absorbed too much energy earlier today. Dr. McCoy had to make some adjustments, so I didn't have anything to r-regulate it with." She laughed. "What about you?"

"Well, I can control water." _That sounds lame_.

"That's cool," said Nori. "Hey, we could team up! Water and lightning? Huh?" Aden laughed as they entered the kitchen.

Inside, Nori quickly made her way to the refrigerator and grabbed two sodas out of it. She tossed one to Aden, turned toward the pantry and yelped. Aden squinted at the pantry door. He could barely make out a shape, a human shape that was the same color of the door. He gasped as the shape changed color, and became a green, cute guy, with a few strange spikes on his head. _He looks like an iguana. He's kind of hot_. Aden was surprised at that. He never hated reptiles, but snakes and lizards always gave him the creeps. "Victor!" shouted Nori. "You know people always get scared when you do that!" She turned to Aden and said, "Victor can camouflage himself, you know, like lizards?" Aden nodded. _That seems right_. "He likes to do it and scare people." Nori added, sneering at Victor. Victor walked up to the pair and stuck out his hand to Aden.

"Hi, as Nori already told you, I'm Victor. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. Oh, I'm Aden."

"Cool, " said Victor. He flashed a smile. _His white teeth really stand out against his green skin_. "Maybe I'll see you around?"

"Oh yeah, sure." Aden's eyes followed Victor out of the room, which Nori thankfully did not notice, as her eyes were plastered all over Victors ass. She sighed, then turned to Aden.

"He's so hot. And he's pretty nice too, except for when he's scaring everyone. Victor is the leader for the Alpha Squadron too." Nori sighed again. "Too bad he's gay."

Aden stepped back. _Gay? Really? Wow._ He rubbed his stomach and looked around. His eyes lingered on the refrigerator, and Nori was waist deep inside, digging around. She pulled out an old pizza box, and tossed it on the table. "Hope you like cold pizza, because that's all we've got that's eatable. One of the teachers usually send us out when they don't have breakfast. It didn't use to be like that when-." She caught herself. "Nevermind. Let's just eat up."

Nori and Aden chatted late into the evening, finishing the half box of cold cheese pizza. Nori mostly chatted about her squad, her powers, and herself. Aden did what he did best, and listened. They headed to bed around 11 o'clock, both acknowledging that they needed to wake up early. As they came to their separate doors, Nori turned to Aden.

"I've got a danger room session in the morning, but you didn't tell me what you're doing tomorrow. What is it?"

Aden glanced toward a window, and then back to Nori. "It's nothing, really. I just like to swim in the mornings."

Nori looked horrified. "You'd wake up that early just to swim? You're crazy." She laughed, and then sighed contently. "I really had fun tonight. Thanks." She smiled.

"No problem. It's strange, but I feel like I've known you forever." Aden said, returning the smile. Nori nodded. "Me too." They exchanged goodnights, and entered their rooms.

Leander wasn't back yet. His bed still remained messy, and empty. Aden stood out on the balcony once more, enjoying the cool night wind, and the sound of the pool. After a few minutes, he went inside. Smiling stupidly, he undressed and laid down in his bed. _I'll leave the windows open tonight._ The sound of water lapping and owls hooting were the last sounds he heard before he drifted off to sleep. _I found a friend._

September 21:

_Ahh._

Aden turned on the shower and winced at the cold water. He directed the water away from him and into the drain until it warmed up considerably. Even though he had just spent a half an hour in the pool, he hated smelling of chlorine, especially on his first day of school. _Shoot. School._ He was scheduled to meet with Ms. Manh, the teacher of the younger kids, and also the tutor of one of the squads. She was going to examine his abilities and assign him a squad. _I'm nervous._ He was more then nervous. He was nauseous. _I should eat something solid, like toast. Toast sounds good._ He had 30 minutes until he had to meet Ms. Manh in her office, so he headed down to the kitchen, which was one of the few places he could get to. Aden had a very bad sense of direction, but after a few wrong turns he caught the scent of bacon and followed it, eventually finding his way.

The kitchen was a mess. Dr. McCoy, a big blue furry teacher, was minding his own business frying bacon at the oven. However, behind the doctor sat mess of dishes, napkins, silverware, and unfinished food stacked high. Finished with his bacon, Dr. McCoy merrily placed the strips onto a plate with toast, jam, and two eggs sunny-side up. He turned and noticed Aden.

"Oh, hello Aden. Would you like to join me for breakfast?" He motioned toward a less messy part of the table. Aden sat down, picking his way through the debris. "Toast?" offered the doctor, and Aden gratefully accepted it. He spread some butter on it, and munched down happily. Dr. McCoy watched his first bite, then settled in to eat his own food. Aden was a little uncomfortable in the silence, but got the idea that the doctor liked to eat in silence. Dr. McCoy was one of the first teachers that Aden had met. Ms. Manh had picked up Aden from the airport the day before, and introduced him to a few teachers.

Finished with his toast, Aden stood and cleared his plate. He checked the clock on the wall. _I've got 15 minutes. I better go now, just in case I get lost._ He was about to say goodbye to Dr. McCoy, when several students ran in and quickly put together small and unhealthy breakfasts. Dr. McCoy laughed, and began clearing the table. Aden made a move to help him, but Dr. McCoy ushered him away. "Go on, I'll do it. You have a first nice day Aden. Don't you have somewhere to be?" Aden nodded and waved goodbye. He edged around a student haphazardly slapping butter on toast, and left the kitchen.

Thankfully, Ms. Manh's office was in the library, and that was an easy room to get to. Aden just followed the stairs up to the second floor, and went straight down the hallway, where a pair of doors led into the library. As he opened a door, a voice called from above. "Up here, Aden!" He looked up, and on the second story landing stood Ms. Manh, wearing khaki slacks, a white shirt, and a tweed vest. Aden located a turning stair case and climbed up. Ms. Manh was sitting at a desk behind a computer typing intently. She looked up as soon as Aden stepped forward tentatively.

"Aden. It's nice to see you in one piece after your first day." She smiled. Her face was angular, yet pretty, and her short black hair framed it poorly. "I'm going to test your abilities today, and find out if you're ready to be assigned to a squad. Don't worry, not everyone is ready for a squad." She looked over her notes, and the air was thick with expectation.

"Um, what would happen," asked Aden, "if I wasn't assigned to a squad?" _I'll be ridiculed throughout the school as the 17 year old not in a squad._

"Well, you'll be put in mostly Lower School classes, and in six months we'd test you again." Ms. Manh said, not noticing Aden's fear.

That's about as far as I've gotten. I only put this up now because of my good friends urging. Please leave feedback and such. Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry, this one is a bit shorter. I've had writers block. I know where I want to go with my characters, I just don't know how to get them there. Planes, trains, or automobiles?

Once again, not all of these characters are mine. Almost all of them are Marvels.

* * *

"This is the Danger Room," announced Ms. Manh, after a long and winding tour of the Institutes lower halls. Aden was in shock. He would never imagine that below the classy brick mansion lay a labyrinth of shiny metallic halls. _A Danger Room? What is this, Power Puff Girls?_ On second thought, however, Aden realized that it was necessary. How else would students get the chance to prove their skills in battle. That was the second shock. _Battle? What if I have to fight? Will I be able to?_  
"Aden?" Ms. Manh said, drawing his attention back to her. "Are you paying attention? Good." She wandered around the stark bare circular room. "Originally, the Danger room was filled with machines and training devices, but with futuristic Shi'ar technology, Dr. McCoy and Ms. Pryde were able to create the new and improved Danger Room."

"Shi'ar. Those are aliens, right?"

"Right." Said Ms. Manh, smiling. "Nice to see a teenager who keeps up with the news. Although, an alien force isn't hard to notice." She chuckled. "Now, instead of devices to help train, we use holograms to help train. I'll show you an example." She nodded to a window up near the ceiling and the stark metallic room disappeared. In its place lay an oasis of cool blue water, surrounded by three green palm trees, and dry, red sand surrounding the entire area. Aden stumbled and fell onto the hot sand. He picked up a handful and sifted it through his hands. _It's real. Amazing._

"Hard to believe, isn't it? Try drinking the water." Ms. Manh motioned toward the clear blue water. Aden stood and walked over, having trouble walking on the shifting sand. He hesitantly reached out and touched the surface, expecting it to disappear. _It's wet. It's real._ He reached out with his mind and felt for the flowing energy he had become so acquainted with. _Nothing_. He turned in puzzlement toward his guide. "The sub-conscious is a hard thing to fool. It knows that there isn't really water there, but go ahead and try raising the water with your mind." Aden frowned and turned back to the water, the hot breeze blowing through his hair and the green leaves above him. He reached out with his mind and felt nothing, but went ahead and tried to raise it. A globule of water raised above the surface.

"Pretty impressive, huh?" Ms. Manh was grinning. "Now that we're here, I want to see how powerful you are." Aden dropped the globule and focused on Ms. Manh. Here was the part the he was dreading. "What can you do with the water that you control? Can you shape it to whatever you want?" Aden nodded. "Can you give me an example? Make… a fish." Aden turned to the pool. He reached out again, not feeling the reassurance of his element. _Come on. This is easy._ He made a gesture with his hand and a liquid fish leaped out of the water and froze in mid-air. Aden made another gesture and spun the fish, giving Ms. Manh a 360 view of his shimmering creation. She smirked. "Let's try something else."

It felt like hours that they spent in that oasis, Ms. Manh requesting a more challenging task after Aden completed it. She even asked him to try walking on the water, which ended up with a soaked student. She then asked him to draw the water out of his clothes, which surprisingly worked and dried him effectively. Aden grew more tired after each task, but he strangely kept going. He had never worked at such a grueling pace, but it suited him. He eventually raised the entire volume of the pool, which was only a few feet deep. At this point, Aden was thoroughly sweating, and Ms. Manh appeared uncomfortable as well. "Well, good job." She said. "I still have a few questions to ask you, so I suggest we go back to my office." The oasis disappeared, and in it's place returned the cold bare walls of the Danger Room. Aden shivered. He realized he was covered in sweat, and he could feel the water settling on his skin. He wiped it off with a thought;b the sweat dropped off of him and hit the ground with a plop. _That's useful. Why didn't I think of that before?_ He looked at Ms. Manh and attempted the same thing. She froze as the sweat fell off of her body. She raised her eyebrows at Aden, and said nothing. He followed her out of the room, back into the hallway, and up the elevator.

"Don't worry," Ms. Manh added, noticing the strain in Adens expression. "You've passed."


	3. Chapter 3

Once again, only a few of these characters belong to me. The rest belongs to marvelous Marvel.

* * *

September 22: 

**Aden stood uncomfortably outside of a high-class Chinese restaurant. His hair was a bleached brown, and his skin had darkened several shades. _Why today? Why did he have to meet me today? I left the Institute a year ago today._ **

Aden blinked opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. _What kind of dream was that?_ He sat up and looked around. It was only 6:30, and his roommate Leander was still sleeping. Leander's shaggy blonde hair was resting over his eyes, and his blanket was halfway on to the floor. Aden could just make out the faint outline of forming pecs on Leander's chest. _Stop thinking like that_. Leander was unbelievably straight, going out with a different girl every weekend, and playing basketball, football, or soccer in his free time. Aden liked to think that he made up for brawn what he lacked in brain, but Aden was wrong. Leander happened to be the second smartest on his squad, The Excelsiors. Which also explained why he was the leader of the Excelsiors. As much as Aden wanted to dislike Leander for being so different then himself, Leander was a great guy.

"Mmph." Leander scratched his nose and turned toward the wall, revealing a slight plumbers crack to a watching Aden. Aden muffled a laugh and silently stepped out on to the balcony. The sight that awaited him caught his breath. The sunrise. The sun was peeking out from above a pair of sun-bleached clouds, which seemed to stretch forever to the north and south. Red. The sky was red.

_Red sky in the morning, sailors warning._ Aden scratched his head and looked back at the sky. _Sailor's warning, huh? We'll have to see about that._ Aden headed back inside to get ready for his meeting with Ms. Manh. She was going to give him his class schedule, but more importantly, assign him to a squad. _A squad. Thank goodness._

"**Aden?" He turned to see a tall, well-muscled gentleman with wavy dark hair. "Aden?" They made their way to a small table near a window and sat down. Aden glanced at his menu, but he couldn't keep his eyes off the stranger. "Aden!"**

Aden jerked from the shower's icy cold water. "Aden!" A voice yelled from beyond the bathroom door. "You alright?" Aden managed to shiver for five more seconds, and then gave up and turned off the water. He had fallen asleep while showering. "Aden! I'd like to use the shower too! Aden?" Leander's voiced seemed muffled to Aden's pounding head. He stepped out of the shower and froze. _Oh, it's so cold._ "Towel.." he mumbled and spun around slowly. No towel.

"Aden!" Leander started to bang on the door. "Aden!" _Ow, my head._ "Hold on, Leander." Aden said to the door. "I can't find a towel." The banging abruptly stopped. _This is stupid._ Aden gestured and the water dropped off of him with a splat. He grabbed his shorts and covered himself. "I'm coming out! Don't look." Aden opened the door and Leander was looking away with his eyes tightly shut. Aden grabbed a new pair of boxers and slipped them on. "You can look now." He watched in amusement as Leander slowly peeked around.

"You worried me, man." Leander said. "I woke up when you got in the shower at 6:35, but then I dozed off. When I woke up again at 7, you were still in there and you weren't answering. You okay?"

"I'm fine," Aden replied. "I just dozed off like you." Leander smiled and walked over to the bathroom. As he walked in, Aden heard an audible thump and a bit off curse word.

"There's water all over the floor!" Leander shouted. Aden gestured and heard the water splat into the bathtub. "That's better." Leander said, as the bathroom door shut.

After grabbing some more toast from the kitchen, Aden headed to the Library. Busily munching on toast he made his way through the hallways. All of a sudden, a pair of white arms came out of the white wall and grabbed Aden. "Boo." Aden gasped and fell. As he fell, the arms turned to green and quickly revealed an apologetic Victor.

"Woah, Aden, I'm sorry." Victor said quickly, as he scooped Aden upright. "You okay?" Aden brushed himself off. "Yeah," he said. He eyed Victor's lower half, which still blended into the wall. "I'm fine." Victor nodded and cracked a smile. It felt like hours before Victor released Aden, but it was only seconds. "Sorry, again." Victor said as he stared into Aden's eyes. "I guess I'll see you around?" He waved, and walked off in the opposite direction. Aden watched him turn the corner before turning toward the library doors. _That was odd._ Aden made his way through, leaving his half-eaten cold piece of toast on the floor.

* * *

I had no idea how to write the scene akwardbetween Aden and Victor. So please don't shoot me. 


	4. Chapter 4

All characters belong to Marvel. Except for Aden, he's mine.

* * *

"Aden?" An icy voice greeted him in the library. A blonde woman wearing a white business suit approached him and shook his hand.  
"I am Ms. Emma Frost, the headmistress here at the Institute. Ms. Manh is out, so I am giving you your squad assignment." Aden's head perked up at this. "You'll be joining the Excelsiors, Mr. Drake will be your mentor. He's going to test you by the pool in a few hours, it's just a preliminary." She said. _Mr. Drake?_ The Iceman was one of the few supers Aden had seen in action, surfing his way around New York on a thin sheet of ice. 

"The Excelsiors recently lost a member who had aquatic abilites as well, so I'm sure you'll fit right in," Ms. Frost gestured toward a table with a couple books. "I want you to do some research on your hydrokinetic abilities. H2O, density, all that jazz." She left. Aden sat and flipped open a book. "Water and its Attributes." he said to himself. The first book was full of scientific facts about water, but nothing Aden hadn't already learned in his middle school classes. The next book was about bodies of water, which Aden found a bit more interesting. He was reading about the moons effects on tides when he heard a loud thud from another room. Instinctively he felt out with his mind, but could only feel the rushing pipe water from in the walls. Still, Aden couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him.

_

* * *

_

_This is awkward_. Ms. Frost had told Aden to meet Mr. Drake by the pool at 10:30. She came down at noon to check up on things, and Mr. Drake still hadn't arrived. Aden watched her stare into space for about five minutes before she finally moved. He guessed that she was doing some telepathic thing. She sighed. 

"Well, as Drake can't be bothered to show his lazy butt, I am going to have to examine you." Aden gulped. Ms. Frost had a reputation of being unflinchingly demanding on her students. She walked over to the pool, her heels clicking on the tile.

"Now, you'll find that while physical strength is not necessary for your training, staying in shape can and will give you better control." She looked down at the water. "Let's begin."

Aden levitated a globule of water, and at Ms. Frost's request, shaped it into hearts, stars, and letters. She had him pick up water bottles by moving the water inside. He tried to pick up a bucket using the same method, but failed. She was disappointed. Aden then levitated 100 little drops of water and sent them flying in different directions. Aden felt his mind stretch like taffy. Ms. Frost's disappointment faded, but soon returned when she asked him to pick up as much water as he could. About an eighth of the pool struggled upward, but the water ball was poorly constructed and dripping.

"Hmm. From what Ms. Manh told me, you can do more," Ms. Frost said. "By the end of the semester you should be able to do at least half the pool, no matter how tired you are." She sighed again and checked her watch. "Good job today. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around."

She turned and walked out. Aden caught himself admiring her heels, and rolled his eyes. _How many examinations do I have to take?_ He had yet to even meet his mentor. Aden was hungry, and decided to head inside.


End file.
